Wooden package



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1-. L. REED. WOODEN PACKAGE.

No. 463,777. Patented Nov. 24, 1891'.

INI/Cfitol. Mm Rube fi'ineoaur.

LV.IM.REED.

No. 463,777. Patented Nov. 24, 1891.

NITE LEMON M. REED, OF "CLEVELAND, OHIO.

WOODEN PACKAGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 463,777, dated November 24, 1891.

Application filed December 29, 1890. Serial No. 376,053. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEMON M. REED, of Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in W'ooden Packages of the variety known as Dry Oooperage; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in wooden packages of the variety known as dry cooperage, kegs, barrels, or casks, according to the size of the package; and it consists in certain features of construction and in combination of parts, hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation in central section. Fig. 2 is a plan. Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation showing in section one of the wooden chine-hoops before it is driven. Fig. 4 is an enlarged View in perspective of a portion of one of the staves. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail showing the gains, and Fig. 6 is a view in end elevation of the same.

The package A has no bilge, or, in other words, is supposed to be cylindrical, and the staves a are preferably constructed of ordinary wooden laths, such as are commonly used for lathing studding for plastering, these laths being used preferably on account of their cheapness, and for dry cooperage they are found to answer the purpose well. The staves are cut to lengths and crozed, after which the staves are assembled in a machine, and while thus assembled are subjected to a great pressure edgewise--that is to say, circumferentially of the packageand while under such pressure the wire hoops b I), having previously been placed in the jaws of the machine, are deeply indented in the wood, the ends of the wire are twisted together, as shown at b, after which the twisted ends are hammered or bent back against the side of the package, and in such position are secured by a staple N. Then such external pressure is removed, the staves expand somewhat, so that the wire hoops are still further embedded or seated in the outer surface of the staves. Hence there is no liability of the wire hoops becoming loosened or displaced by afterward handling the package. I may here remark that it would be impracticable to embed the wire hoop in the wood simply by twisting the ends thereof together, for the reason that there would be so much surface and friction as between the wire and staves that the wire would break before it was strained tight enough to accomplish the purpose. If the wire hoops are not thus embedded in the wood. in manufacturing the keg, in afterward rolling the package after it has been filled with heavy material the wire would become more or less embedded in the staves, and this would loosen these hoops and cause them to break. The one head of the package is placed in the machine and the staves are assembled around it but the other head is left out, so that the staples b can be clinched on the inside of the package, and this loose head is easily left out until the package has been filled. The chine-hoops O are of wood and are driven while the package is in themachine, and the one hoop is of course afterward removed in placing the loose head. These chine-hoops have a thick and a thin edge, as shown in Fig. 3, and the inner face of the hoop is flaring, the same as for a pack age having a bilge. IIence these hoops are easily placed and driven over the chine, and when driven the strain comes mostly on the thick edge of the hoop that is best able to sustain such strain, and the hoop is less likely to come off than if the hoop fitted the package the entire width of the hoop. In driving these flaring hoops on a cylindrical package the draft of the hoop forces the staves together or inward at the chine, so as to firmly secure the head to the crozing.

' Onegreat difficulty with dry cooperage, more especially where the package is filled with heavy material-such, for instance, as hardware, chains, large spikes, &c.has been that if, for instance, in unloading the package from a dray the package happened to fall cornerwise or even in upending the package a portion of the staves were liable to be driven endwise, thus loosening the hoops and heads and wrecking the package. To prevent the staves from being thus driven endwise, I out a series of gains a crosswise and preferably at regular intervals along the one edge of each stave, (see Fig. 4,) leaving projecting tongues or tenons a between the gains. These gains are perhaps a sixteenth of an inch (more or less) in depth on the inner edge of the stave and run to zero at or near the outer edge of the stave, so that these gains do not show on the outside of the package. If square-edged staves like those made from laths were assembled in a cylindrical package, the inner edges of the staves would engage each other and sustain the external pressure applied by the machine, and the outer edges of the staves would be more or less apart, leaving cracks. Now by gaining the one edge of each stave in the manner aforesaid the projecting members a tongues, tenons, or whatever they may be designatedsustain the pressure brought to bear on the staves, and these projecting members embed themselves more or less in the edge of the opposing staves, whereby the outer edges of the staves are brought so close together that no cracks are noticeable, and hence the opposing edges of the staves interlock to such an extent that there is no danger of any of the staves being driven endwise in handling the package.

To prevent the heads 0 from being broken out in upending the package or by other rough usage, I provide as follows: At least two opposing staves are respectively provided at either end thereof with straps c, of thin sheet metal, nailed or otherwise secured to the inner faces of the staves, these straps projecting some little distance beyond the ends of the staves, and the two staves provided with these straps are set opposite each other in the package. The heads of the package crowd these metal strips back into the crozing, and the protruding ends of thesestrips are afterward bent down over and nailed fast to the head. These two staves on opposite sides of the package and the metal strips fastened to the staves and to the heads have substan tially the effect of a band applied lengthwise the package in holding in the heads. If the package is large, for instance, four or six or any desired number of staves may be arranged in like manner and provided with strips, as aforesaid. I also provide cleats or strips of wood D, fastened to the outside of the heads crosswise the latter, these cleats being flush with the chines, so that in upending the package the cleats will engage the ground or floor and thus support the heads, and in such case the heads are placed so that strips 0 come opposite and are bent over and nailed to cleats D, and if there are four or more staves provided with metal strips 0 these staves should be arranged about equidistant apart. (See Fig. 2.) By such means as aforesaid a cheap but exceptionally strong package is provided that thus far seems to meet the requirements of the trade.

I do not wish to limit myself to staves constructed of laths or to flat staves of any kind, as staves cut or sawed in the ordinary manner on a circle would answer the purpose and could of course be used in constructing my improved package, if so desired.

\V hat I claim is 1. A wooden package composed of straight staves crozed at their ends, heads held in the crozes, and chine-hoops flaring 011 the inside, the thickened portion only bearing on the staves at or near the heads, substantially as set forth. I

2. A wooden package constructed of staves, heads, and hoops, said staves having crozes formed therein, and metal strips or straps secured near the ends of the package and held in the crozes by the heads, these strips bent over the heads and attached thereto, substantially as set forth.

3. A wooden package constructed of staves, heads, and hoops, the staves having a series of gains formed on the edge out crosswise thereof, such gains deeper on the inner edge or corner of the stave, and the intervening tenons on each stave being embedded in the next adjacent stave, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification, in the presence of two witnesses, this 17th day of December, 1890.

LEMON M. REED.

Witnesses:

(J. H. DORER, WARD HOOVER. 

